Business case: Casebooks

Practice Case

ESADE MBA Consulting Club BCG Case BookThis case book includes very well document sections on interview prep for BCG, education on frameworks etc. as well as a lot a different cases. Excellent preparation for BCG as well as McKinsey.Recommended: Practice with a partner/ Beginning of preparation.

NYU Stern: Torch the Case (2015-2016)16 great cases covering most scenarios (profitability, M&A, turnaround, etc.) sorted by complexity. It specifies if the case is interviewer or interviewee-led.Recommended: Practising with a partner/ Half way through preparation.

Wharton Consulting Group: Casebook (2010)14 great cases (we specially enjoyed Case 5). It also includes an overview of the selection process of firms (careful, it can be outdated!), basic information about some major industries and general recommendations for the personal experience questions.Recommended: Practising with a partner/ Half way through preparation.

London Business School: Business Case/ Frame the Problem (2013)Several cases with a good summary for the interviewer. Some of the cases seem odd as there is no single conclusion to reach (see, for example, case Iceberg in pg. 50), but they can actually be great practise to put yourself in the most awkward situations.Recommended: Practising with a partner/ Towards the end of the preparation.

McCombs (2008)Relatively old case book with a lot of different cases from specific firms including McKinsey & BCG. Cases are quite tough and long.Recommended: Practising with a partner / End of preparation.

Basic Concepts

Practice both interview-led and interviewee-led cases.Don’t expect an interview to be fully interviewee-led (McKinsey-type) or interviewer-led (BCG-type). Each type demands slightly different skills and interviewers often expect you to both take the lead as well as respond to his/ her specific question in the same interview.

Practise cases with partners and also alone.When you practise cases alone, it is easier to pay more attention to the quantitative questions (i.e. what numbers you had wrong, shortcuts you could have use, etc.). When you practise with a peer, you get to improve your communication skills and hear other ways of interpreting the same exercise.

How many to crack?As many as you need to feel comfortable. Just keep in mind that it is about developing the skills that help you crack any case – each one is different. Make sure to do cases in depth. Be careful with over practising – it can kill your creativity and fresh style!